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McCarthy: We Deserved the Win
Saturday, 14th Feb 2015 18:01

Town boss Mick McCarthy felt his side thoroughly deserved their 2-1 win at Fulham. Daryl Murphy netted his 20th and 21st goals of the season in the first half with Ross McCormack pulling one back for the Cottagers in the 74th minute.

“A deserved win, I think,” McCarthy said. “We had some good chances, certainly in the first half. The reality is that if they get a goal back the confidence will flow a bit more and they did through a mis-hit.

“It was a great finish by McCormack, but you’d expect that from a player of his ability but we deserved to win.”

But he says there was no panic from his side even after they had conceded following a Tommy Smith mistake: “There wasn’t really, we had a good shape to us today and we defended well.

“I know what it’s like when you’re down there, it’s difficult to play and be full of confidence and it doesn’t always flow.

“You can see they’ve got good players, once or twice they opened us up in the first half, but we didn’t really have to deal with it because the final pass wasn’t great. Overall it was a really good performance by us.”

McCarthy once again had praise for Daryl Murphy, who became the first Town player to hit 20 league goals since David Johnson scored 22 in the 1999/00 promotion campaign, although the Town boss says there is another claim on the fifth minute opener.

“Freddie’s claiming the first one, I think, but I’m not bothered. Murph got a really sore on his nose when he headed it.

“He headed it and I think he headbutted Tunnicliffe was well. The nose doesn’t have an effect on somebody’s skull, does it? He’s doing well, isn’t he? He played well.”

Once again asked why the Irishman, who broke his nose netting the opening goal, has hit such a rich vein of form at 31 years of age, he added: “I keep having to answer the same question and I keep answering it the same way.

“He’s settled, he’s got the number nine, he’s a centre forward, he’s not playing wide left or wide right or doing anything else. He’s living in the area, he’s not on loan any more.

“He was given the number nine and he works damned hard with TC in front of goal. We’ve been here for two years so he’s been doing that work for two years and it’s paying off. TC is as good a coach as I’ve seen with the strikers he’s excellent.”

Having apparently got their brief downturn out of their system, the Blues remain fourth, just two points off the top, but the Blues boss is staying typically grounded: “I keep saying; it’s what you end up with on May 2nd that matters.

“I said we’d have a tough time at some stage and that everyone else would have that too. We’ve recovered a bit with two wins on the bounce and now we’ve got to do it again next Saturday.”

He says Noel Hunt suffered a knee injury in the late clash with Shaun Hutchinson which saw the Blues striker carried off on a stretcher.

“He’s got a sore knee, so I’m not going to make any judgements until Monday when it’s cooled down and we can get a scan done."

Fulham manager Kit Symons felt his team allowed Town to score at crucial times: “Conceding the goals when we did, in the first five minutes and the last minute of the first half, we were always giving ourselves a lot to do.

“In the second half I thought we showed a lot of endeavour, people worked very hard and certainly dug in and battled.

“We maybe lacked that little bit of composure and quality and we got ourselves back into the game with a slightly fortuitous goal, to be honest, but then we didn’t quite have enough to get something out of it.”


Photo: Action Images



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Suffolk_n_Good added 18:07 - Feb 14
A great confidence win today, 2 in a row has certainly settled the team, we just need to push on with another win next sat! Well done to MM & TC, I like the way MM stays grounded win, lose or draw, he never gets carried away, never lays blame & creates a close squad atmosphere. Huge congratulations to Murph, great achievement yo reach 21 goals at this stage of the season, heard MM say he wants him to reach 30 now!! Well if he does, we won't be fair off that's for sure!! 👏⚽️👍
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brockleyblueboy added 18:11 - Feb 14
Great win after a little wobble. Let's just keep going and like mick says, let's see where we finish come may.

Well done boys and a massive tip,of the cap to the away support, you are the ones keeping our season going.

I still reckon a east Anglian play off final would be brilliant, however second will do.

COYB #inmickwetrust
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Michael11 added 18:16 - Feb 14
Great win! Hopefully the confidence is back after our recent blip and now we're heading into 2 home games, which is a bonus. On another note, I really do think it's time to bring Jonny Parr back into the first team for Tommy Smith. He's made a few errors of late and Jonny's been unlucky bot to play so it would make sense.
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bluefeast added 18:22 - Feb 14
Smith will score the winner in a vital game between now and the end of the season. Just you watch ,that lad has character even if he is a little prone to the odd mistake. COYB
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bluefeast added 18:23 - Feb 14
Be good for Sears to score a few ,i feel his over all play is brilliant.
14

yorksblue added 18:32 - Feb 14
Great result. Just wish we could stop gifting goals away.
6

nysully added 18:34 - Feb 14
Massive win today, heading over from New York for supporters weekend and the win today really sets us up nicely. Murphy and Sears sound a great partnership as Sears was making runs to support Murph. Does Didz come back to sit behind those two? Does sound like a formation MM and TC prefer so its a big call for the Reading match to see who starts as clearly Didz will be fit. MM does not like to change a winning team so suspect Didz will have to wait his turn now.
3

muccletonjoe added 18:34 - Feb 14
Things seem to be going the right way again. Let's hope we remain injury free and can really put a good run together
3

battyblue added 18:39 - Feb 14
Good to secure the win keeps us up with the leading pack but cant afford anymore slip ups happy with starting line up with who was available except Parr should have started ahead of Tabb imo.
5

tcc4 added 18:51 - Feb 14
Great result. 2 winnable home games up next with a tough march ahead. Looks like it will take at least 75 points to get in play offs but win the next 2 and we could again have ambitions of a top 2 finish. Don't know about you but would hate to play the scummers in play-offs, my nerves wouldn't take it!
5

BlueandTruesince82 added 19:01 - Feb 14
Agreed tcc4. I couldn't bear it, the result would be crowing fodder for yearsf9r one set of fans and if it wasnt us? Oh dear god imagine. I really hooe watford do them🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
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Ipswichlove added 19:03 - Feb 14
Great atmosphere🙏⚽️
1

jas0999 added 19:05 - Feb 14
I hope N Hunt isn't badly natured and wishing him a speedy recovery. However, with injuries mounting up we need to sign some cover. Can't go into next week with just two strikers! Need options on the bench at least. Over to Evans. Great win today. Well done all.
3

bazza added 19:08 - Feb 14
Well done mick !!! And all your mates!!! Great result COYB!!!! Notice all the haters have crawled back under their stones, THANK f#%k !!!!
1

afrodids added 19:17 - Feb 14
Great result. We need to go on a bit of a run now. The top 2 is possible however top 6 more of a reality. COYB :-)
1

TractorBeezer added 19:26 - Feb 14
Well done MM....and TC and the lads. An excellent result today. Listened to the game on Player. Positives include:
Two more goals for Murph
Midfield effective today
We pressed them in their own half...at least for the first half
We are only 2 points off the top
4000 of our supporters there...brilliant. Would love to hear some stories about the boat trip....must have been a blast....did it leave from the Ipswich waterfront?

Hope that our injuries not too serious.
3

E18Blue added 19:37 - Feb 14
Solid & effective today i thought. Fulham had zero cutting edge. Murphy is immense, even with his back to goal he holds off 2 + defenders time & again.

Superb away support, fulham fans around me shouting 'change it Kit'. After 15 mins! their fans noise was non existent, just moaning and groaning.

Great result away from home, if I was being super picky, they seemed so low on confidence, If we'd really had a go at them first half we could have been out of sight by half time, they really were there for the taking. But that doesn't really seem our style, just hold it steady and keep it tight. Mick know's best i guess.

Daryl Murphy song rattling round Bishops Park on the way back to the tube, ace.
3

blrmy added 20:58 - Feb 14
God, I love travelling with so many awesome away fans! Took ownership of Craven Cottage today :)
5

blueboy1981 added 23:37 - Feb 14
....... take note MM - another example of what can be achieved if we go out with a different attitude to just accepting the point we start with.

If we attack, play with a bit of flair and creativity - and play our players who are capable of such (and we have them) within the squad - very few, if any, would live with us in the Championship this season.
5

gorse added 02:07 - Feb 15
Terry gave us a wave!

bounce bounce bounce bounce bounce bounce
2

bohslegend added 08:45 - Feb 15
Blueoy are you still imagining that MM actually reads this? "MM take note..." LOL

Plenty of pre game drivel yesterday.
Bluesince84 how do you like them apples?? eh?? Well? Have you judged MM now?
The usual BS from the usual BS-ers before the game - you will not hear any of them come back and admit they were wrong.
-3

blueboy1981 added 10:34 - Feb 15
......... bohslegend - I think it's high time you and a few other's realised that naivety - is NOT widespread.

Some of you are obsessed with the 'man' - and forever have to have a dig at anyone who questions him, or has an alternate opinion to yourselves - even on / after a 'happy day' like yesterday.

Enough said.
2

Warkys_Tash added 10:43 - Feb 15
Fantastic result, played well. Good work MM, TC & team. The away following at this club is superb. The songs are back, the vibe, the atmosphere, the feel good factor.

Have to add that Fulham was a nice ground, good facilities & very friendly. Maybe a bit too nice for opposition teams? :-)
3

PJH added 11:07 - Feb 15
I do not think that there is an obsession with MM but I do think that more people should recognise that we are making a very serious promotion challenge largely BECAUSE of MM rather than despite of him.
6

purplealien added 11:59 - Feb 15
I agree PJH

In MM I think we have probably the best Championship manager of the lot.

We all get disappointed when the team under perform. Like others, I get frustrated when MM appears slow to change things around and the team sheet isn't what I'd like to see.

However, I don't see what happens in training, and I am not a professional football trainer/manager! if Micks judgment is that sticking with a particular player (e.g. Tabb, Anderson) is the better option than changing things around who am I to argue? Who's to say that we wouldn't have done worse in the Jan fixtures if MM had made changes earlier?

If we do get promoted, and don't emulate our first season under Burley, the "realist" voices on here will quickly drag the mood down and do their best to destroy team morale. I might give twtd a miss for a season, as I will get extremely wound up. We are already hearing the line that MM isn't capable of managing in the Premier League FFS.

I've watched town since the 70s. This season has been the best for a long time. I may be in a minority, but I hope we go up, pay off most of our debt and then come straight back down again. I'd take top 6 Championship over bottom 6 Premiership any day. I'd like to think that our great club will stick to it's fine tradition and not sack MM if we can't stay up.

COYB
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